Secrets
by The Part-Timer
Summary: Kushina has two secrets. One was the Kyuubi. The other was something much, much worse. And then Minato came along and loved her anyway. MinatoxKushina.
1. Prologue

**Secrets**

_Kushina has two secrets. One was the Kyuubi. The other was something much, much worse. And then Minato came along and loved her anyway._

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Prologue

"No, wait, Kushina-san, you can't just go in there –!"

"I don't care!" she snarled, pushing past the woman. She barged into the Hokage's room in fiery rage, which dimmed when he looked up.

"Hokage-sama," she said, bowing. Paper crackled in her clenched fist. She drew it out. This was it. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I quit."

"Kushina, what –"

She slapped her resignation form down in front of the blinking Hokage. Slowly, he removed his tobacco pipe, glancing at the form to check that it was the real thing. It was.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked finally. "I thought you loved being a ninja."

She swallowed. She did, very much so, but she had other priorities now. "I did," she said. The Hokage's face turned grave.

"Kushina, you just came back from a year-long mission. I understand that it may have tired you –" Kushina snorted, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear "– but resigning is a serious matter. Maybe you should take some time off to think it over?"

"No," she bit off, frustrated. There was no other way. Why couldn't the old man see that? "I can't, old man. I have a kid now."

"What!" She startled when the Hokage grabbed her shoulders, having shunshin-ed past his desk. His grip was strong and firm. "Kushina, this was supposed to be an infiltration mission," he said in a strained voice. "What have you done?"

"Achieved the mission objective," she replied quietly. It was so out of character for the hot-blooded teenager that the Hokage pushed her away from him to look at her. "Hokage-sama," she begged, "Please don't take her away from me." _She's the only family I have_.

The Hokage understood her unspoken words. His eyes softened. "I won't," he said. "Where is she now?"

"At home, in bed." Her bottom lip was beginning to tremble from the strain of her choice, from the comfort her father figure was giving her. It was too much. Her breath hitched and she began to cry.

"What'm I gonna do, jiji?" she wailed, clutching at his arms. He pulled her into a comforting hug.

"Hush, hush, don't cry. It's all right." He petted her hair, ignoring the stink of travel that was packed in it. His mind was whirling with questions, but now was not the time to ask them. Kushina's crying slowed down to sniffles.

"I don't know what to _do_, jiji," she sighed. "I'm sixteen, being a ninja is all I know! And yet," a growl formed deep in her throat, "she's just a kid. I don't want her to end up like me."

This, he understood. Kushina was a spare child, a speck of dirt in the shadow of her siblings, the heirs to her clan. She had been…ah, _donated_, to Konoha when they required a fresh container for the Kyuubi, once Uzumaki Mito grew frail. It was determined that a blood relative would be more effective, since Mito had jailed the beast, the greatest of the nine, for decades where other jinchuuriki had lost themselves to lesser tailed beasts much sooner. And so the Kyuubi in her gut became Kushina's first secret.

It put her in the limelight. It also slashed her fragile ties with her family in Uzu, so she had no one left by the time she woke up in a sterile Konoha hospital crying for her mother. The Sandaime Hokage had become her closest family figure ever since.

So he understood her sentiments, from a historical standpoint. He couldn't, however, in good conscience leave her adrift with a baby in tow. Options raced through his mind.

"Kushina, take half a year of paid leave," he said, holding up a hand to forestall her resistance. "You are a capable jounin, and it would be a waste to let you go. So take a break, and once it's over come back to me and we'll figure things out. There are many ninja duties that do not require you to leave Konoha."

"Jiji…you mean it?" Tears threatened to fall again as she hugged the Sandaime tightly. "Thank you thank you _thank you!_" He chuckled.

"Of course I do, Kushina. Go along now, your baby must be hungry."

Nodding, she wiped her snotty nose on her sleeve, rubbed her eyes, and left. The Sandaime watched her go through his window.

What a cruel world it was, to have children bearing children before their time. He puffed his tobacco pipe regretfully.

He'd failed her once, but he wouldn't fail her again. He would protect the Leaf and everyone in it as much as he could.

….

Everyone knew her. The Useless Jounin, they called her, because she never took missions that were dangerous, out of the village, or those anything lasted more than a few hours, really. That left her with D-ranks and a few C's. In a village where even chunnin ventured out for missions, she was a miserable failure.

It wasn't unusual for chunnin to stagnate and fall into administrative duties, but it was very rare for a young, able-bodied jounin to do it. She shook off all their hostility like water off a duck's back. Long, red locks of hair swished behind her as she ascended the steps to the Hokage's office, balancing a stack of papers in her arms. She scrunched up her nose in disgust.

She remembered the day the Sandaime offered the job to her. His assistant was getting old, he said, and he needed someone to help her. Kushina _hated_ paperwork. She ranted, scowled, and snapped, but in the end she took up the job. The cold shoulder his secretary gave her right after told Kushina she was none too pleased at being called 'old' – not that she blamed her for that.

So here she was, a kunoichi in her prime, sticking her ass in a chair like a stupid paper-pusher. It was too much for the twenty-two year-old who constantly thirsted for action. It was a trigger-happy whip that lashed at her heels every morning. Especially Mondays. She really hated Mondays.

Today, unfortunately, was Monday. Her sole consolation was that the Hokage hated it too. She bit back a grin when she saw him looking forlornly at the stack of papers in her hands. She slapped them down on his desk with a vindictive chortle.

"Have fun, jiji," she teased. His shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Why did I ever hire you?" he said in mock despair. (The despair at his paperwork, though, was very real.)

"Aww, you know you love me," she said, still grinning. "Jii-chan, can I ask a favour?"

The Hokage eyed her warily. "Nothing good ever comes when you call me that."

Kushina pouted. "I'm not that transparent, am I?" At the Hokage's cocked eyebrow she sighed and relented. "Fine, fine, I am. It's just that it's Rika-chan's first day of school today and I want to be there when school ends. That's all."

Ah, Rika. The Hokage stroked his beard, remembering the precocious child who scared the living lights out of the Hokage Tower on a regular basis. Quite literally, once. He still winced at the thought of the kid going through the forest of wires to get to the generator unsupervised. Kushina almost had an apoplectic fit when she found her child near a sparking live wire.

She was the little terror her mother had been as a child, and somehow the resemblance there was striking where physical looks were not. She was six now, old enough to enroll in the Academy, and old enough to show that she didn't look like her mother. It broke Kushina's heart. The Hokage knew this, although his young assistant never said a word about it.

"Hmm, I suppose I can think about it…" he said, faking a frown. Kushina groaned.

"Just let me go already, jiji!" she whined. "I'll get you ramen later, my treat. Okay?"

"Well now, why didn't you say so earlier? Be off with you!"

Kushina face-faulted. "You're so lame, jiji." Then she brightened up and gave him a brief hug. "Thanks."

The Hokage smiled at her. "Go on now, before I decide to sic some of my work on you. Rika-chan will miss you if you're late."

She flashed him a look of horror and shunshined away. The Hokage chuckled and returned morosely to his pile of paperwork.

Oh, what wouldn't he give to get rid of them?

….

She reached the Academy five minutes before school let out, panting with the effort of continuous shunshins. _Must train harder_, she reminded herself as she got her wind back. She didn't want to give haters any more reason to call her The Useless Jounin – not that anyone called her that to her face. She'd punched the last one who tried.

"Hey, Mikoto!" She waved and grinned, loping over to where a young woman stood leaning on a stile, eyes searching for her charge to come out of the Academy. Mikoto smiled and waved back.

"Kushina, it's been a while," she said, nodding. "Waiting for Rika-chan?"

"Yeah. How's Itachi-kun? And the bastard?"

"Itachi-kun's fine," Mikoto said with a faint smile. "And you should really stop referring to Fugaku like that, Kushina."

The redhead snorted. "I will once he stops acting like a pompous jackass. Oh, hey, Rika-chan, over here!"

"Mama!" a child squealed, detaching herself from the crowd of kids swarming out of the Academy. Kushina opened her arms wide, catching her daughter in a leaping hug.

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's dangerous to leap like that!" she scolded, but she grinned hard. "Had fun in school today, hon?"

"Hell yeah! I learned lots and lots and lots, and I made new friends too! Hi, Itachi-kun!"

"Hello, Rika-chan," Mikoto's little brother replied, a little unnerved by her enthusiasm. Mikoto crossed the stile to pick him up.

"You should really watch your language around the kids, Kushina," Mikoto said. "I don't remember you saying something so crass that young." Kushina stuck out her tongue at her.

"She turned out just fine, haven't you Rika-chan?" She rubbed her nose against Rika's affectionately. "Come on, let's go to the park for some ice-cream, okay?"

"Yay, ice-cream!" Rika cheered. "Itachi-kun, want some?"

The boy perked up at the sound of his name. "Um," he said, looking up at his sister, who smiled and nodded. "Okay?"

"Whoopee! Mama, let's fly there, fly now!" Laughing, Kushina did just that, swinging her little girl onto her back and jumping over rooftops in the direction of the park.

"Race you there, Mikoto-chan!" she cried. Mikoto shook her head and took her brother's hand.

"Let's walk there. Aunt Kushina will wait for us, don't worry." Itachi nodded and fell into step beside her.

Sure enough, when they reached the park Kushina was waiting at the gates with two cones of ice-cream in her hands. Chocolate ice-cream slobbered all over Rika's face.

"Come on, you two took forever! Let's bring the kids over to the playground, huh Mikoto? Rika-chan loves it!" Rika brightened at the thought.

"Yes, playground!" She swallowed her ice-cream in one great gulp and started to choke. "C-c-cold!" she stammered, shivering. Kushina rolled her eyes and smacked her back until she stopped choking.

"Silly girl, of course it'll be cold if you eat it all like that. And no, my ice-cream's mine." Rika turned on her best puppy-dog eyes, and Kushina relented, shoving one ice-cream into her daughter's hands. She beckoned to Itachi to take the other.

"It's for you," she explained, when he looked up dubiously.

"Thank you, Kushina-oba-san," he said, smiling a little when his sister nodded her encouragement. The two children ran off to the playground while the adults settled on a nearby bench. Kushina grinned when Rika immediately began to bully other kids around. Mikoto watched too, with much less excitement.

"Hey, Kushina," she murmured once she was sure no one could hear.

"Hmm?" Kushina said, keeping her eyes on her daughter. Mikoto took a deep breath.

"Why don't you tell them that Rika-chan's not yours? You know what they're saying about you in the shinobi ranks."

Kushina scowled and tucked her hair away. Her earlier mirth faded away. "I don't care," she muttered. "Besides, better me than her. She's innocent." Fists curled at her sides.

_And so are you, _Mikoto wanted to say, but she kept silent.

- Prologue: End.

Yep, that's her not-so-dirty secret. Got the idea when I was working on my first fic, **Absolution**, so I just fleshed it out to see if it'll work.

Edited because I suddenly realised the timeline of the story doesn't match canon, or at least where I want it to match with canon. This Itachi is Mikoto's brother. Sasuke's Itachi will appear in later chapters.

Feedback will be greatly appreciated. Shall I continue this story?


	2. 1: Namikaze Minato

**Secrets**

_Kushina has two secrets. One was the Kyuubi. The other was something much, much worse. And then Minato came along and loved her anyway._

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

1: Namikaze Minato

Minato's presence in the tower was causing quite a stir.

It wasn't because he did anything – oh no, and if he did, he always played it down. In fact, it was because he did nothing but smile and reply greetings that the Hokage Tower was getting roused at all. Minato deemed it a helpless cause and cut his way through to the Hokage's office as fast as he could.

_Fangirls. And boys. _He shuddered and rapped on the Hokage's door.

"Come in," a feminine voice floated through. Minato did a double-take. Since when was the Hokage female?

He opened the door just a crack and peered in, his hand on the doorknob. A woman with shocking red hair blinked at him.

"I said, come in," she repeated, yanking the door open.

"Wh-whoa!" Minato exclaimed, pulled forward by the momentum. He righted himself before he planted his face in her bosom. Her _very_ ample bosom. The woman's warning cough zipped his eyes to her face. She had pretty green eyes.

"Well, you're in," she said with distaste. She crossed her arms under her chest and gave him a kick to the rear. He fell all the way in. "Namikaze Minato-san? The Hokage will see you now."

And before the incredulous Minato could say anything, she spun on her heel and slammed the door.

He stared after her.

"I'd advise you against any unwise moves, Minato-kun. My assistant can be a very vengeful woman," the Hokage said from his prime vantage point at his desk. Minato got up hastily and bowed to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," he said. A pause. "Your assistant, you said?"

"Yes, she's been here for the past six years. Seriously, Minato-kun, I know you've just come back a month ago, but I thought you'd recognise the new faces by now," the Hokage reprimanded, amused. Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He was never too good with faces. Or with people skills, though his boyish charisma helped him coast through.

"Anyway, I called you here for business." Amusement evaporated from the Hokage, and Minato straightened; the Sandaime was serious. "How goes things at the frontlines?"

"We're still holding up, sir. For now."

"Casualties?"

"One ANBU, two jounin, eight chunnin, sir," Minato replied, his insides churning. That ANBU had been his friend. The Hokage let out a tired breath.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," he grumbled to himself. To Minato, he said, "You've done well. Take another month off to relax and prepare before you go off again."

"Thank you, sir."

"Oh, and before you go –" the Hokage scribbled his signature on a piece of paper and passed it to him "– please send this over to the Academy."

Minato sneaked a peek at its contents and froze. "Hokage-sama," he said carefully. "Is this…?"

"Yes, it is." The Hokage looked away. The time has come for unbearable choices to be made, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"You're the last squad captain to report to me, Minato-kun. Out of all of you, your team fared the best," he said. Minato crunched the numbers, eyes widening when he totaled the estimated casualties Konoha had borne. It was well over a hundred.

"But…the kids," he struggled to say, because what was there to say? Konoha was short of manpower, and Academy ninja-wannabes were still potential ninja. This way, Konoha would last longer without losing too many of their big guns. It was cruel and efficient.

"Yes, the kids," the Hokage agreed. "Kids no more." Suddenly he looked too old and small to be carrying the weight of so many lives. "You may go," he said, returning to his desk. Minato bowed and left.

The paper weighed like a stone in his hand. It was a desperate decision, one no one liked, one necessary for big wars such as this. Minato hated it.

The Academy students were still so happy, tumbling around in the training grounds when Minato arrived. They stared at him until he disappeared with a shunshin, then resumed their play. Minato watched them from the administrative office window with a heavy heart.

"Hokage-sama asked me to pass this to you," he told the head teacher there, a retired jounin with one leg and one hand. He'd lost it during the Second Shinobi War. He read the edict with a grimace.

"So it's come to this then?" He looked out of the window, too. "Poor kids. They'll never know what hit them."

"…Yes." The two shinobi fell silent, contemplating the hardships that will come.

"And we have such a promising crop this time, too," Minato heard the jounin mutter. He winced.

"Well, maybe they'll grow faster on the battlefield." His words sounded hollow, even to him. He took his leave to brood alone.

He walked over to Kakashi's house, since he didn't feel like going anywhere fast. The boy, already two-year-old genin at the tender age of eight, was practising ninjutsu in his living room. Something Minato had already forbidden him to do. Sighing, Minato grabbed Kakashi's wrists. The chakra poofed away.

"What did I tell you about practising in the house, Kakashi?" he said. Kakashi huffed and looked away. He was a difficult child, anti-social and cold ever since the death of his father, Hatake Sakumo, who was blamed as the cause of the Third Shinobi War. The sins of the father was not lost on the son. In fact, with a sinking feeling, Minato thought that Kakashi was beginning to hate Sakumo, too. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"We have one more month off to relax," he told the boy, parroting the Sandaime's words. Kakashi frowned.

"We should train."

Minato bopped him on the head.

"Don't be an idiot!" he snapped before rubbing his face and groaning. "Sorry, Kakashi. It's not been a good day. Forgive me."

The hostile look Kakashi shot at him faded. Minato was, after all, the surrogate father-brother who'd plucked him out of his misery. He shuffled closer to Minato for an awkward pat. Minato passed a hand over his eyes in distress.

Then, fast as lightning, he grabbed Kakashi's hand and pulled him forward. The boy toppled onto Minato with an indignant gasp.

"Minato-sensei I hate you!" he shrieked, wiggling to get away from Minato's tickling fingers. Minato laughed and let go.

"Thanks, chibi. I needed that." He grinned at Kakashi, who looked like he regretted consoling his sensei in the first place. "Wanna go eat?"

"No," Kakashi said. He fished out a rations bar and began to chew on it. "Want one?" he offered.

"Nah, no thanks. Got enough of that in the field. If you eat just that you'll really be stuck as a chibi forever, chibi."

"Stop chibi-ing me," Kakashi muttered. "What did Hokage-sama say?"

Minato rolled over, his cheer dampened. "He's accelerating the graduating age of Academy students. There'll be more Konoha shinobi for the war soon."

"Good," Kakashi decided, and Minato's head snapped up to glare at him.

"It is not a good thing, Kakashi-kun. Many will lose their lives out there."

"I know." He shrugged. "So will I, so will you. We live to serve Konoha."

God, this was one screwed-up boy. Minato groaned. What did he do to deserve this?

Well, besides being Sakumo's ex-apprentice.

And being Kakashi's brotherly figure ever since he opened his tiny baby eyes.

And because he cared for the brat a whole damn lot, really, because the two only had each other left.

…There was no way he was getting out of this one, was there?

Minato hauled Kakashi up in a fireman's hoist. Sometimes, he just had to remind the kid that not everyone was a prodigy like him, and even prodigies have to relax. He chuckled.

"Let's get some shut-eye, kiddo."

"Put me down, darn it!"

"In your dreams," Minato teased, then he proceeded to sprawl over Kakashi on the bed despite the boy's thrashing.

Ah, the joys of having an apprentice. It never gets old.

….

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!"

"Ah, ah, I'm sorry, _I'm sorry!_"

CRASH. BANG!

"NAMIKAZEEEEE!"

"Will you just accept my apology already, woman!" Minato yelped. He was currently running in the most undignified manner around the ground floor of the Hokage Tower, chased by a red-hot, angry she-devil. He was quite afraid for his life.

"YOU CRASHED INTO ONE WEEK'S WORTH OF PAPERWORK. ONE. _WEEK!_" Kushina howled. She was gaining on him. Terrified, Minato jumped into a shunshin – only to have her materialise even closer than before. Goosebumps rose on his skin. Kushina wasn't _human_.

"I said I'll help you rearrange them!" he yelled, avoiding the scissors that she brandished like a sword. Seriously, what lunatic let her be around sharp objects?

"I needed some of those today!" she snarled, jabbing at him. It missed his jounin jacket by a hair.

"So if you'd just stop attacking me, we could start right now!"

"And I'm supposed to forgive you for that!"

"Well, yeah!" he shot hotly. "That's normally how things work!"

"I don't do normal!"

"Yeah, I can see that!"

"Shut up, bastard!"

"Do you treat everyone like this?" Minato asked, avoiding her kick. "How does anyone put up with you?"

"They don't!" Was she _proud_ of that? "I don't care if you're the Hokage, if you ruin my paperwork you're gonna pay!"

A flood of killing intent filled the room. Minato froze, recognising the source. Kushina froze as well.

The Sandaime Hokage descended the steps one at a time, as though it was a normal day, filled with rainbows and unicorns. Everyone watched him come down.

"Well," he mused, "what do we have here?"

To Minato's dismay, Kushina found her tongue first.

"Nothing, jiji." _Jiji!_ Minato almost fainted at the scandalous way she addressed the most revered leader in the village.

"If there's nothing, then Minato-kun, please come up and meet me now." The killing intent pulsed once, then vanished along with the Sandaime. Minato hastily complied.

Oh, god. Minato slumped against the sturdy door of the Hokage's office after a sloppy shunshin, relieved beyond words. Kushina's frustrated wail reached him even up here. He shivered. A decision clicked into place.

His pet project Rasengan could be put on hold. He needed something much, much faster than the shunshin, and he needed it _now_. Like, the-next-time-he-met-angry-Kushina now.

(Years later, when the Hiraishin became his signature move, Minato never, ever told anyone the incentive behind his prized jutsu. Ever.)

He banged his head against the door, sighing.

"I warned you against unwise moves, Minato-kun." The Hokage had the audacity to sound amused. Minato shot him a half-hearted glare.

"It was an accident," he grumbled. "I'll go help her later."

"No, you won't have the time," the Hokage said. Minato's head shot up in surprise.

"I'm sure you know I've been looking for a successor, Minato-kun. Who do you think are the likely candidates?"

Minato mulled over it in his head. "I'm not sure, but if I were to hazard a guess, perhaps one of the Sannin?"

The Hokage's mouth curled up in a smile. "I've considered them, yes," he admitted. "But in the light of…certain things…I've considered someone else too. You, Minato-kun."

"M-Me?" Okay, he must have heard it wrong. There was no way the Hokage said–

"Namikaze Minato. From now on, you are my successor, and once you learn the ropes, you'll be Yondaime Hokage. Congratulations." The Sandaime was smirking now.

"There'll be a meeting with all the shinobi in an hour. I'll make the announcement then, so be prepared," he finished. His words dropped on Minato like hammers.

An hour? He wanted to melt into a puddle right now! What would Kakashi say?

Snicker, no doubt.

Minato groaned. Kakashi was going to have a field day, he just knew it. He shuffled downstairs in a daze.

"Oi, watch where you're going. I'll skin you alive if you bump into my papers a second time!"

"I'm sorry," he blurted before he realised who it was. "Oh, it's you."

"Yes, me," Kushina snapped, glaring. "Move, will you?"

He flattened himself against the wall obligingly. She walked past him, suspicious, but he did nothing so she continued on her way to the Hokage's office, no doubt to burden the poor man with more paperwork.

Paperwork that would soon be his, if this played out. With Kushina as his assistant.

He shivered again.

The one hour was up too soon, and Minato found himself stuck on a podium as the Sandaime Hokage addressed the shinobi who amassed around them, like so many tiny ants. He never knew he had so many comrades.

"Shinobi of Konoha," the Hokage's voice boomed. "I called you here today to make a very important announcement. I am old –" the crowd rippled with disapproval, and he waited for them to calm before continuing "– as I was saying, I am old, and the war is becoming more serious. I think it is time for some new blood. Someone who has led his team through battle after battle, victory after victory, alive!"

The crowd roared. His guts twisted, remembering the ten death reports he'd submitted to the Hokage just three days ago. Alive, his ass.

"Shinobi, I give you…Namikaze Minato!"

"NAMIKAZE!" the crowd yelled, delighted. They knew him, of course they knew him. Now it was his task to know _them_. It was a humbling thought.

The Sandaime Hokage grinned and smacked him on the back. "Go on, give a speech," he encouraged.

Minato wasn't sure what he said. It was probably something really idiotic, but the crowd loved it anyway. They went wild.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a gob-smacked Kushina, and an idea hatched in his mind.

_I'm future Hokage_, he mouthed at her, grinning wide when she shot a furious look at him.

Revenge was sweet indeed.

And if she muttered something about dumb blonds…well, he wasn't dumb.

He was, unfortunately, dumb enough to anger the Red-Hot Habanero.

- Chapter 1: End.

Aaaand that's how they met. In explosive Kushina-style. Kick back and enjoy the show!

Special thanks to **cybercorpsesnake, SpartanM60, Igornerd, Duesal10 **for reviewing the prologue. And as always, feedback will be greatly appreciated, so send 'em right over!


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